Jul 28 2008
doctor schmoctor
Last Thursday Chris got off work early and so he came home and went to work around here (as he usually does). He's been building a new shed, which is quite impressive. I've been taking pictures, but as you regulars know, alas, cannot load them here for awhile. Just know that it's nice, concrete foundation, solid wood frame, all steel sides and roof, and one huge window... he went all out. We're using our tax refund money for this so that he can get his stuff out of our garage turned workshop, so that he can finish out the garage into two rooms and an extra bathroom... eventually.
Anyways, he was out there working, did something, slipped and his forearm came down on a corner piece of metal. He then had a nice-sized hole/puncture wound in his arm, which was just gushing pouring blood (thank You Lord that he didn't hit an artery!). I was inside with the kids, had just gotten baby S down for a nap literally minutes before (good timing) when he came rushing inside, holding his arm, with blood dripping down it. He immediately started snapping orders, "Beth, I need you... NOW! Get me some dental floss... I need a needle... "
Oh, no, I thought... *gulp* I knew where this was going. You see, about six years ago, he'd busted his knee open loading a moving truck and ended up sitting in the tub, sewing it up himself! I immediately started freaking out counseling him to let me take him downtown to the Urgent Care walk-in clinic. Why did I even fight him on it? I dunno, you'd think that I know this stubborn man well enough by now to know better. By now he had ice and a rag on his wound, and I was gathering supplies for the inevitable, even as I pleaded with him to let me take him... the gash was in his right arm, and therefore he was asking me to do the sewing this time.
Have you ever tried to sew up skin, with a regular sewing needle? Me neither, but I've seen it done... skin is tough, and stretches, and resists, it's not like cotton cloth atall.*sighs* As usual, he won. I relented right before he would have started getting really mad, when I saw that he absolutely wasn't going anywhere and would have sat there doing it by himself if I didn't help him. Yes, he would have. And so I began sterilizing our assemblage of supplies as he leaned over the kitchen sink, pouring iodine into his cut. I was thinking out loud...
Wouldn't it be good to get a tetanus shot?
He shot back, The metal is clean, brand new, don't need one.
Well, what about an antibiotic, in case of infection?
There won't be any infection if we keep it clean...
I know this... so, why am I worrying so? I thought, Must be the blood... Finally, I conceded, completely this time, sat down on the stool in front of him, and began to try and sew up my man's arm.
Well... I was shaking a bit, not out of nervousness, but because the needle just would not go through, which apparently made Chris pretty nervous though. He then had me hand the needle (threaded with waxed dental floss- just in case you were wondering- and held by pliers, to push and pull it with) over to him and he proceeded to sew up his right arm, left-handed, which must have been hard because he's right-handed! I was just relieved to not be doing it, and content to hold the cut together for him. It certainly must have been very helpful in making it easier for him... you think, maybe? I had to kinda roll the skin so that he could get the needle through more easily. Well, he said that it helped anyways. I noticed that he, too, was shaking as he sewed, which he said was from the strain of pushing that needle through (though I waited until later, when we were done to point that out).
Between gritting his teeth, and a couple of "aaarghs!" (it wasn't very numb), Chris was commenting on how we really do need to get us some real surgeon's sewing needles and assemble a good better first aid kit. I commented that if it's ever the kids or I that need sewing, it's to the doc we're going! LOL We counted down the final stitches, only one more to go!
He reminded me that once upon a time, before there was a doctor down every street, what do I think people did? And with the way things are going in this world, we may not always have such easy access to doctors... we need to learn to be more self-sufficient in the things that we can be... at least.
Yeah, okay, he's right... We'll assemble a nice, ready-for-anything first aid kit... but I sure do hope that we won't need it, and as long as he's able, he's taking me to the doctor to get any stitches that I may need, along with some local anasthetic.
All said and done though, I am impressed! By the time we were finishing up and he was in the shower, we would have just been sitting down in the waiting room of a walk-in clinic. It was red and swollen for the first day. However, now, four days later, it's healing up quite nicely, barely even red. Of course, Chris feels most triumphant in that he saved us a couple hundred bucks... What a man will do when he's got nerve, and doesn't have insurance to pay his bills, huh? What a tough guy I have, and what stories for his kids to tell. So, am I a model help-mate, or what?! LOL Seriously though, Chris is my hero... frustratingly stubborn as he is sometimes.Technorati Tags: self-sufficiency, sewing self, medical, crazy
Nope, me either. Sheesh, I could barely keep my knees from buckling in my Speech 101 class in college.
